So, I’ve been very quiet since I went full time and as such I wanted to give a quick update on what’s happening. The next update is focused on the market simulation aspect of the game, so there’s not much to show, it’s all code and numbers. The changes I’ve made reach pretty deep, and I’ve managed to break save and mod compatibility and if you had any strategies, they probably won’t work anymore.
Currently I’ve hidden most of the inconsistent logic in the market simulation behind really abstract math. It’s hard to figure out what’s wrong when you get a “You received $20000 this month”, without any real context. So to change this I’ve switched to calculating actual unit sales, which means I can track active users of each software, actual server bandwidth load, actual user operating system coverage and you can set the price of your software, see exactly how many fans you have, etc.
This also means the simulation has to be a lot more realistic than it is now, which is really hard to get right. On one hand, big operating systems should sell millions of copies and should be priced high and on the other hand companies having trillions of dollars doesn’t make sense gameplay wise. I have to find some middle ground, which means changing some numbers, playing the game for 15 minutes, changing some numbers, playing the game for 15 minutes, changing some numbers, playing the game… You get the point.
Another thing I’m trying to achieve, which has also been requested a lot, is company specialization. Currently, you just try to push out as much software as possible. I’ve changed the reputation system so it’s split between business reputation, for company/employee interactions, and consumer reputation, measured in fans. Company reputation no longer directly affects sales, instead it affects your ability to get market recognition in different software markets, which directly affects sales. This forces you to pick a specialization for your company if you want to survive, and you can start moving into other software markets once you achieve some fame.
This brings me to the final big simulation change: Software categories. Each software type can now be split into categories, e.g. games have RPG, FPS, simulation, etc. Each category has different fan retention rates, development difficulty and popularity, and sometimes features. Once you have broken into a market in, say, RPG games, you will have an easier time breaking into the market for other types of games.
Hopefully, all these changes will make the game a lot more interesting to play. In my short play sessions I can already feel the excitement of seeing the fan number rising, slowly causing more sales.
I’m also adding a 90s computer, which a lot of you requested. It doesn’t really make sense to jump directly from Commodore to flat screen. And as an added bonus: Laptops. I’m planning on adding computer add-on furniture, like tablets and phones, to increase effectiveness of certain employees. Not sure yet if it’ll make it into alpha 7 though.